Hate crime prosecution back in business, chief Perez says

Civil rights advocates will be glad to hear that Thomas E. Perez, the new head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, is redoubling efforts to prosecute hate crimes.

Critics long have viewed the Bush administration as lethargic in such issues, and a Washington Post story today said Perez has been “shocked” by the feeble record of his predecessors. The story also says Perez has “pledged to make prosecuting violent ‘equal-opportunity bigots’ a top priority in the coming year,” a reference to a controversial case against the Black Panthers Party.

Perez’s statements came as President Obama approved money to hire 102 people, many of them lawyers who’ll work on hate-crimes cases, and congessional expansion of hate-crime protection to cover sexual orientation.